South Brisbane's Cisco Kid and Pancho hold the big bad Gringo at bay

South Brisbane's gay caballeros must close the door of the presbytery each evening, hang their sombreros on the hat stand, unbuckle their gun belts with their twin pearl-handle six-shooters, and set about slapping their thighs and holding their ribs, all the time exclaiming between bouts of uncontrollable laughter, "Oh, Cisco!" "O, Pancho!"

They are without doubt having the time of their lives.

One has to admire the unabashed twisting of Church phrasing, the daring manoeuvres, and the blatant manipulation of the irrepressible caballeros. There they are each day swaggering around in front of the world, their pearl-handle six-shooters left snugly in their holsters, and giving the one finger to all attempts by the Church's potentates to bring them into line.

Naturally they have the nation's media drawing from the ever growing mythology of anti-Catholic bigotry to support them. The Australian was showing signs this year of escaping their decade long delirium and saying something accurate about the Church. There is a sad relapse evident in these passages from a report in today's edition:

THE stage is set for a showdown between the liberal and traditionalist wings of the Catholic Church following a decision by the renegade Brisbane parish of St Mary's to defy a Vatican ultimatum...

The row is being watched closely by church leaders as a test case for the traditionalist sacraments endorsed by Sydney Cardinal George Pell.

Church liberals believe the Vatican is under pressure to close St Mary's by members of the ultra-conservative Opus Dei grouping, which is close to Cardinal Pell and Rome's influential bishop, Javier Echevarria.

This sort of commentary is at the level of Disney's Big Bad Wolf and the three little pigs. Great for entertaining the nation's legions of anti-religious bigots, but in terms of reality a travesty. It's author, Greg Roberts, is lost in a fantasy world. Just when The Australian seemed to emerging from the media's anti-religious asylum, it has to breaks out all over again. It apparently cannot withstand the urge to recidivism when a juicy story is on offer. We Catholics must despair of someone in the secular media actually making the effort to learn some facts about the Catholic Church.

And it's not helped, of course, by a woman, a Catholic nun only in name, making the following comment on Cath News:

Oh, for more parishes in the Catholic Church which take the message of the Gospel as seriously as St Mary's South Brisbane. I find the parish's inclusiveness a real challenge, and it makes me examine my conscience. Thank you for your example of willingness to pare down all the barnacles in your sincere attempt to live like Jesus.

Posted By: Sister Susan Connelly

Sister Connelly understandably does not indicate what order of sisters she belongs to - or is too distracted by the goddess to think and speak sensibly. Sister should, indeed, examine her conscience, but not in the way she is presently entertaining.

What's happening in South Brisbane is equivalent to two gay Labor Prty caballeros hijacking the local branch, and proclaiming to the world that they represent the purity of the Labor Movement. And then they go about prescribing a regime totally contrary Labor Party rules, structure and belief - and appoint Tony Abbott as their specialist adviser in Labor Party matters.

As usual, there is endless media commentary when there's a story that can be manipulated against the Church and orthodox Catholics. Here's a selection:

Save St Mary's Catholic Church